Once a sleepy Southern town, Macon GA becomes a pink cotton-spun paradise as over 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees burst into bloom. For 10 days, the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates this extravagant display of springtime color - the pinkest party on earth.
All this pink began with William A. Fickling, a man who had a deep appreciation for beauty and a passion for horticulture. Fickling was a local realtor who found Macon's first Yoshino cherry tree in his backyard; he liked this little tree because it bloomed every year on his birthday, March 24th.
Fickling learned that he had a Yoshino cherry tree, a species rare to the south. He learned to propagate the trees and began freely sharing them with the community. The first 500 trees were planted in 1973, and over the years, Macon's Yoshino cherry trees grew quickly in number.
The tradition continues today. The Keep Macon Beautiful Commission and the Cherry Blossom Festival distribute trees as a gift from the Fickling family at no cost to local residents. There are now over 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees in Macon (more than in Washington DC) and the number is still growing.
The first Cherry Blossom festival took place in 1982 and has grown to become one of the Top 20 Events in the South, Top 50 Events in the U.S.,and Top 100 Events in North America. It has expanded from a three-day festival with 30 events to a 10-day celebration with hundreds of events - it's time for us to check this out!
We arrived in Macon on Friday, March 25th and headed over to Central City Park - home of lots of cherry trees, along with amusement rides, a big cat show, helicopter rides, all sorts of vendors (including cherry tree sales), and festival food. The trees were pretty, the white tigers were magnificent, and the food was fried.
We wandered around the park for a while and then met our guide for a grand tour of this city of 100,000 population - founded in 1823. Here are some of the highlights:
Douglass Theater is a historic African-American owned theater, which hosted a weekly talent show that was won week after week by native son Otis Redding. The nearby Georgia Music Hall of Fame honors Georgia-born performers including Little Richard, Ray Charles and James Brown.
The Cannonball House is the only home in Macon that wasn't damaged during the Civil War (referred to by the locals as 'the recent unpleasantness'). It's a classic Greek Revival mansion built in 1853; today it houses a Civil War museum.
Like many other southern towns, Macon has a downtown statue honoring its Confederate dead. The statue originally faced south until someone pointed out the danger of turning one's back on the northern agressor. The statue was turned around and today faces north.
The Overlook Mansion, built in 1836, sits high on a bluff overlooking the city. This impressive Greek Revival home was built for Jere Cowles, the man responsible for making Macon a major railroad hub. Its second owner was Joseph Bond, one of Georgia's wealthiest planters.
The home was finally obtained by Mercer University, which named it the Woodruff House in honor of George Woodruff, who provided for its restoration. (Woodruff made his money in Coca-Cola.) Next door is the Mercer Law School, complete with rocking chairs on the front porch.
In addition to old houses, Macon is also blessed with beautiful old churches. We went inside St. Joseph Catholic Church, built in the mid-1800s. It's a beautiful Gothic Revival building, with over 60 stained glass windows made in Germany and white marble carvings, statues and altars from the same Italian quarries used by Michelangelo for his famous sculptures.
Just up the hill stands the First Baptist Church. The story is that the Catholics weren't happy that the Baptists held the high ground, so they made their church steeples two feet taller.
We drove around the Cherry Blossom Trail to see some of the cherry blossoms planted throughout Macon. One of the prettiest neighborhoods is around the Fickling House, home of the man who started it all.
We wrapped up the day with dinner at Molly's, an interesting little restaurant downtown. The owners are originally from Florence, SC, and they aren't usually open at night - for our group from their home state, they made an exception - and prepared us an excellent meal.
On Saturday morning, we went first to visit the Johnson-Fenton-Hay House, commonly known as the Hay House, which was built in 1855. It was built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, a marked contrast to the more restrained Greek Revival architecture of the antebellum period in the South. This 18,000 square-foot mansion has 24 principal rooms spanning four levels and is crowned by a three-story cupola.
The home's technological amenities were unsurpassed in the mid-19th century: hot and cold running water, central heat, a speaker-tube system, in-house kitchen, and an elaborate ventilation system. Inside, the house is beautful - lots of art, period furniture, stained glass windows, and a great view. It's easy to see why this house has been called the 'Palace of the South.'
We then headed downtown to visit the Mulberry Street Arts and Crafts Festival. There were over 200 booths full of handmade merchandise - ranging from local art to colorful fish made of plastic soda bottles to all sorts of jams and jellies and candles.
Even better were the dogs - it seemed like half the dog owners in town had spent the morning getting their dogs ready for this big day. Lots of dogs in costume, but the pink poodle named Blossom topped them all.
For lunch we headed over to Nu-Way Weiner, this city's culinary claim to fame. This little hot dog stand first opened in 1916 - this is the original store, still serving the same secret chili sauce and private label weiners. Well worth the effort - and the cole slaw was good, too.
We walked back to the festival and joined some of our travelling companions for dessert at a sidewalk cafe - cherry blossom ice cream, of course!
